


so i got itches that scratch

by warofthefoxes



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, mark needs affection au, maybe i'll call it that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-04 10:14:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17302763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warofthefoxes/pseuds/warofthefoxes
Summary: Once upon a time, Mark wakes up with an incessant need to be touched, held and kissed. Donghyuck seems to be the only cure for it.





	so i got itches that scratch

**Author's Note:**

> one night i told sina id write mark as someone who needs kisses he'd die without them this is the result
> 
> a big thank you to sina who beta-ed this! and made me feel less of an [redacted] <333

It starts out as an itch on the insides of Mark’s palm that can’t seem to go away unless it’s being held. 

Mark makes nothing of it. If anything, he takes it as, what Chenle claim, good luck: “It means you’ll have money soon, hyung.” And Mark is filled with hope at those words and he lets the kid hold his hand for the remainder of their break. The itch doesn’t quite go away but it’s bearable with another hand in his so he doesn’t bring the topic up for discussion to his group of friends and tries to put the itch that he can’t seem to scratch to the back of his mind as he finishes his homemade ham and cheese sandwich. 

Mark comes home that day to a letter from his dad with a good amount of cash in it. He thanks his lucky stars and does not forget to share the good news with Chenle, about how he was right about it. 

 

The next time Mark feels it, he’s in the middle of answering a math problem on the board. He throws the chalk on the ground as if his hand had been burnt, the itch so strong now that he’s not sure if it’s even an itch at all. It felt like it came from the inside. Like a part of him gnawing at his skin. 

It takes the attention of their teacher, Mr. Park, and Mark tries to ignore it as his hand does a little ungraceful twitch. He crouches down to pick up the chalk and hears a little snicker from beside him as he does, turning to see Donghyuck, a guy from his class who seems to consider Mark his biggest competition ever since he found out Mark’s academic ranking in school. Donghyuck picks up the piece of chalk before him. 

“What’s with your hand, Number 1?” Donghyuck asks, as he places the chalk back in Mark’s hand, his fingers slightly ghosting over Mark’s palm and Mark feels electricity from the touch alone, tingling his insides so that he backs his hand away from the little shock. Only to regret the loss of sensation once he does. 

He keeps mum, taking a fleeting glance at Donghyuck once and wonders if he felt it too, but he doesn’t dare ask, turning to finish the math problem at hand. The itch, however, went away and doesn’t come back for the rest of the week. 

 

The itch grows into something more each time it comes back randomly. Most of the time, it comes during class so that he has to sit on his hands to make it go away and try to work. It’s difficult, especially with all the times Donghyuck catches his strange behaviour from where he’s sitting behind him and calls him weird for it. 

Mark tries his luck out by joining the lottery one time thinking about Chenle’s take as it being luck but wakes up to find he didn’t even get a single number from the Thursday ball results. Maybe he used up all his lucky stars that first time, he thinks, but it doesn’t explain why his hands and the rest of his arms kept itching for something he can’t pinpoint. 

 

The strongest of the attacks comes on the morning of his team’s big basketball game. Mark wakes up feeling cold despite the looming summer haze, groggy, hearing his stomach grumble in hunger as he rolls out of bed. The grumble doesn’t seem to die down even after eating a big breakfast and it gets even worse with the cup of coffee Jaemin hands him as his friend picks him up for class. 

“You know we can just skip classes because of the game right?” 

Mark still remembers the snarls and whispers of hate from behind him when he’d last skipped class during a game day and he doesn’t really want any of that again, so he insists: “I’m okay. I’ll probably feel better later anyway.” 

Only he doesn’t. Drenched in cold sweat, he tries to take down notes for his science class. He feels eyes on his back, probably looking at his bad form with judgement but Mark could care less. It aches. His whole body aches more than an itch now, his hand growing weaker and weaker with each letter he writes, so that his notes for the day all look unreadable and _fuck_ he hates having to ask others for their notes. 

He manages to get through his classes and even convinces his coach to put him in the starting six despite everyone’s insistence for him to stay on the bench because he looks _unwell_. 

“This is nothing. I’m not unwell. If you’re all so worried, I promise, I’ll signal Coach to tap me out if I feel any worse.” 

 

Mark manages to get on his knees before his whole body falls with a ‘thump’ in the middle of the court five minutes in of the first quarter. From where his head lies on the cold floor, he sees a figure on the stands of a boy who had sworn he’d never go see him play and then everything turns black. The only sounds he hears are from the running footsteps of his teammates as they come to check up on him. 

 

Their basketball team loses by 93-92 as Chenle explains to him as soon as he opens his eyes. They rushed him to the nearest hospital after he remained unconscious for the rest of the game. He had apparently stayed unconscious for the better part of the weekend. 

He feels the ache all over his body still. Something rooted deep down and he doesn’t quite know where it starts or where it ends. He can barely hold a cup on his own now. Taeyong, his step-brother, had to assist him when he tried to get up and drink some water. 

“They couldn’t find anything wrong with you. Just that your temperature is low, but the doctors said there’s nothing to worry about. You said you still feel sick?” He hears his mom’s voice telling him. She has come down to visit him in the hospital despite her busy and long hours in her office. The loss of sleep and exhaustion bearing in her voice.

 _Hunger._ The only word that comes to his mind now along with a growing feeling inside his body. It seems to be the only fitting word. “I’m hungry.”, he mumbles, but the food that he’s offered after he says the words doesn’t seem to feed his appetite as usual. 

 

He stays at the hospital for the rest of the week so that they can keep him monitored in case something comes up with his test results that could possibly explain his rather unusual condition. 

He gets new visitors everyday. The rest of the student body seems to have heard about (or watched) him fall down on the court. He sees a new face each day, leaving him letters, fruits and his favorite snacks from their school cafeteria, cheering for his fast recovery. When there’s no visitors he spends his days and nights in the hospital alone. His brother and mother both too busy with their work to look after him.

 

“Hey Number 1! Or am I still supposed to call you that after this?” He hears a familiar voice in the hallway as he’s taking one of the doctor’s recommended night walks. He felt exhausted already just from taking a few steps out of his room and even more now walking back. 

Donghyuck is leaning against the door of Mark’s room wearing casual clothes and bringing him nothing but spite. Their dynamic is something he can’t quite grasp. 

“I didn’t expect you to be here.” Mark says, panting and holding out his arm to the wall to balance himself. 

“I was here to check the status of my number 1 competition and you seem -”, Donghyuck pauses as he moves closer to Mark in case he falls over as he wobbles closer towards Donghyuck - like law of attraction. “You look sick still, that’s lame.” He says, with Mark just inches away from him. 

Mark manages to return the smirk, suddenly re-gaining little of his lost strength as Donghyuck moves to give him access to open the door. 

He enters his room, leaving the door wide open, only he doesn’t hear it close after him. He looks back to see Donghyuck already on his way to where the elevators are, not even looking back to wave once.

The only reminder of Donghyuck’s presence in the room is the pile of photocopied school notes on his bed with a small attached note that reads: _I want to win in a fair fight._

Mark finds he sleeps soundly later that night for the first time in a while. The gnawing hunger in his stomach seems to have died down for the time being. 

 

It becomes a little habit - Donghyuck visiting him during the night. At first, he only comes to leave the notes for him, but over time the visits gets longer. Donghyuck finds himself becoming Mark’s tutor without exactly planning to, but after Mark spends too long trying to understand the new math lesson they had that afternoon, Donghyuck takes it upon himself to help him. Sometimes he even shares what’s been happening in their classroom while Mark’s not there. Some nights Donghyuck just stays to watch tv with him or annoy him with his endless remarks on how he didn’t think Mark could possibly look worse than how he already looked from the pre-wellness state, as Donghyuck calls it.

Tonight, Donghyuck joins him on his short stroll outside of the building. 

“I thought you hated me.” Mark confesses once they get to the little garden area outside the hospital, immediately looking for a seat to sit and rest, as he’s starting to feel breathless from all the walking. 

Donghyuck chuckles at him. “Who could hate you at this point?” 

Mark expects for him to take the words back like Donghyuck usually does when he says anything remotely nice to him. Instead the other looks far off, the moonlight making his eyes glow in a way Mark hasn’t seen before and keeps the words at bay for him to decipher what they meant.

“Once you’re back to your healthy state and become my Number 1 again then maybe I can hate you once more.” he says with less bark and a lot more softness. Mark keeps silent at that. Mark doesn’t know what to say so he doesn’t say anything at all. 

“I’m hungry.”, Mark is the first to break the silence after a while, feeling his breath returning to normal, but the spikes in his stomach poking at him slowly. The itch in his hand, his arms and all over his body creeping up on him, but gentler this time, a little calmer somehow. He can’t explain it.

Donghyuck moves, maybe about to go grab him something to fill his hunger even though he knows now, after Mark’s told him, that no food can ever make him _full_ since he got to the hospital 2 weeks ago. No food has quite been able to fill it. This growing empty feeling. So before Donghyuck can take flight, Mark follows his instinct and grabs his wrist, feeling the same electrical burn from that one time in their math class come to him with a feeling of pleasuring waves. 

_Oh._ Donghyuck looks surprised, as if he felt it too, as he returns to his seat and lets Mark’s hand linger on his skin. 

“I’m not hungry anymore.” 

For the first time in two weeks, Mark can feel the aches dying down. There’s no longer the empty feeling. After one touch from Donghyuck alone, Mark feels like he’s _full_. It’s strange but he likes it. He wishes it’ll always be like this. 

 

Mark gets discharged the next day. His lab results have shown nothing too different from the results from the previous days. There still isn’t a known explanation to his weakened condition, but he’s been getting better. His temperature has returned to normal and the aches and itches have subsided and Mark leaves the hospital confident in that it won’t return. 

“I still have no idea what happened to you and what got you better, but I’m happy for you.” His doctor says as he watches him pack his stuff away. 

Mark shrugs, puts the last piece of clothing he has in his bag and finds himself smiling as he thinks and says the words out loud “It must be the sun.” 

His doctor rambling on about how nice the sunlight really is from this room. 

 

Mark tells Taeyong his theory as he returns back to their home. His mother is gone and probably at work like usual. It doesn’t bother him anymore.

“I think I figured out how to keep the aches to a minimum.” He begins, leaning on the counter as he watches Taeyong cook. 

Taeyong turns to him with a curious look, stopping midway with his cooking of Mark’s favorite kimchi jjigae that he’s been preparing now that his little brother has returned, finally feeling better. “What is it? Do you have to buy it in the drugstore. I’ll drive you there later, before I head off to work.” 

Mark shakes his head and thinks about how his brother is going to react to what he’s about to say. “This is gonna sound crazy and I don’t know how to make sense of it, but I need to touch?” 

“What? Touch?” Turning again to look at him, not quite understanding, even though Mark can see he’s trying to make sure he heard Mark right.

He nods at his brother. “I need to touch someone or for someone to touch me.” 

“What?”, Taeyong sounds filled with doubt 

“I don’t know. It’s like I feed off their energy. Once I come in contact with them, this ugly feeling in my body disappears . They just subside, almost like they weren’t there to begin with.” He explains as best as he can. Although, nothing he says is able to explain how the feelings completely settled within him when he held Donghyuck’s hand back in the hospital garden and in their homeroom at school.

Taeyong takes his time, turning off the stove before he returns his attention on him. “Touch? Just from anyone?” 

Mark doesn’t know. Maybe? Probably. He takes a step towards Taeyong and grabs a hold of his wrist to test it out. Only to come up with… 

Nothing. Nothing like how it was with Donghyuck. Just a feeling of Taeyong’s warm skin. Nothing else. 

“Maybe it’s because I’m already full.” 

 

Mark returns to school the following Monday expecting to see Donghyuck welcome him back as soon as he makes it to the classroom. Everyone greets him with a smile and he tries to return it with the same enthusiasm. Chenle, who’s visited him every other day in the hospital, clings onto him as soon as they meet, just before class begins. 

He sees Donghyuck come in, but when he throws him a small wave and a smile, Donghyuck just looks past him. How strange? This is not quite how he was with him before Mark’s incident, but definitely not how he’d been after when he had visited him in the hospital. Mark doesn’t want to make a big deal out of it and decides to listen to Chenle: “I heard he’s not a morning person. Don’t worry, Mark hyung he’ll probably come around later.” 

But Donghyuck doesn’t come around and Mark tries to dismiss it as the other simply having a bad day. He decides it’s best to leave him be in case it goes more sour than it already is. 

 

This goes on for another day. And another. Turning to days until it’s becomes a full week. The only time they interact is when Mark feels Donghyuck tapping his shoulder from where he’s seated behind him in their classroom. Mark hopes it’s because he wants to talk, but he only passes a handout for him to take.

The itch on his palm returns little by little and he tries hard to suppress it, tries to stay in contact with the rest of his friends - ruffling their hair or touching their ears. He even welcomes their hugs, but the itch doesn’t go away. If anything, it only grows stronger. Each time starting from his hands extending to his arms, stomach and then all over his body like last time. No touch was like Donghyuck’s. No touch ever made him feel full. 

He feels the grueling ache again after lunch, like a punch in his stomach, so much stronger than last. The sides of his mouth begin to itch too like an allergic reaction. He has no idea where from, though? He only ate his usual ham and cheese sandwich and he’s eaten that for like half of the year for lunch. Definitely not the orange juice either. 

He stops to take a rest on the wall near the restrooms, letting the other students pass as he grits his teeth. He doesn’t want the rest of the school to worry again about these unexplainable sensations so he takes his time evening out his breaths and tries to command his brain to think that nothing is aching inside of him although it doesn’t work. 

Donghyuck passes by him but freezes before he can take a step towards the staircase when he realizes it’s Mark leaning on the wall. With a line of sweat dripping from the side of his head, Mark tries to straighten his back, pretending he’s fine and trying to convince Donghyuck that he need not worry, but he feels another pang again, making Mark exclaim a painful sounding ‘Ah!’ a little too loud, as he clenches his fists too tight. Donghyuck just continues to stare at him. Mark feels his eyes on him but Donghyuck doesn’t move to help, like his hands and feet are pinned into place. 

There’s an itch that starts somewhere close to Mark’s chest and all he wants is for it to go away. So he asks, mumbling the words as he stares straight to Donghyuck’s eyes, 

“Please-- Please hold me.” 

Next thing he knows Donghyuck’s extending his hand for him to take so he does and he immediately feels the same electric burn that makes his blood thrum. Only this time, it isn’t quite enough. 

Mark has been brave enough to ask for a touch so he figures he should just go for it, wrapping his arm loosely around Donghyuck’s body. The hug a little awkward. Maybe it wouldn’t even be considered a proper hug to begin with, but the ache once again subsides. The empty feeling goes away in a second. 

Mark braves it again and gets a little too self indulgent, holding Donghyuck’s hand as they make their way back to their class room, sitting close by the other’s side when they get there, just so he can keep their hands linked together with no words exchanged until the bell rings.

 

Donghyuck lets him hold his hand when he grabs it as soon as the bell rang signaling the end of the day’s classes. They walk in silence away from the school campus. Mark has been called off for training, his coach saying they should be waiting for his full recovery before he can return to them. Not that Mark’s sure what that means. 

He walks ahead not exactly knowing where they’re headed. What are they supposed to do now? The ache has gone away, but there’s still a feeling dwelling deep in his stomach, some present hunger, asking for more - the itch around his mouth seems to intensify the more he holds Donghyuck but when he doesn’t, his hands begin to itch a little, begging to be held. 

“So you’re back to hating me again?” Mark starts, not sure if it’s the right way to start at all. 

Donghyuck has his head ducked low, staring at their shoes more than the road. “I thought something bad happened to you, idiot.” He mumbles the words after a couple of minutes, soft, like he didn’t want Mark to hear them, but at the same time, he does. 

Mark bumps their linked hands to Donghyuck’s side to make him speak up more until Donghyuck turns to give him a glare, like he’d do at any other time. Like the Donghyuck he’s come to know. 

“You weren’t there when I visited…” A pause. “You didn’t even tell me you were gonna get discharged.” Donghyuck ducking his head low again, walking straight ahead only to get pulled back by Mark who has now stopped walking, standing in front of a sample house they use for open houses during Sundays. 

“You were the reason why I even got out at all.” He tells him, like Donghyuck’s supposed to know.

Donghyuck finally looks up to meet his eyes now, confusion masking his face. 

“I don’t know why or how, but maybe you’re the only one I need.” Mark uses his free hand to cup one of Donghyuck’s cheeks. 

Donghyuck doesn’t get it, but his cheeks flushes red at the words and Mark revels in the way he gets to see it happen up close. “Wha- at do -- you even --mean by that?” Donghyuck stutters. 

And Mark feels like using all his lucky stars today, as he dares himself to find the cure to the itch around his mouth, closing the gap between him and the still confused Donghyuck, pressing his lips once, twice and three times to the other boys parted ones. Smiling at him once he’s done and whispering the words “I’m full now.” 

 

Afterwards, Mark takes his time to explain all of it to Donghyuck as they find themselves seated at the front porch of the sample home. He tries to explain from when it started up to present time their shared kiss in front of an empty house. He explains it to him eagerly. At least the parts he kinda understands. Truth be told, nothing about his ‘condition’ makes too much sense to him either and he doesn’t know if it ever will, but Donghyuck listens intently, never letting go of Mark’s hand and he’s satisfied with that. 

 

They often find themselves in Mark’s room these days after class, helping each other study for their classes, or sometimes just lying down to talk. The studying goes slow with Mark’s incessant need for _hunger breaks_ , Donghyuck asking for a whole box of pizza every other day for compensation, he says. Adamant that Mark is the only one benefiting from all the affection even though Mark catches him blushing every time. _’I should be called Number 1 now. You really can’t be at the top without me.’_ Right, Mark thinks. He’s definitely right. 

 

In the end, the itches don’t stop, some of them going stronger than the last, but Donghyuck is there to hold his hand and kiss him long enough to get through them. Mark is more than okay.

**Author's Note:**

> oof! also yes, mark is the only one with that condition dont ask me why


End file.
